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| James Fletcher |
 James Fletcher was probably born in Scotland, although his place and date of birth remain unknown to us. * The defender first appeared for Thistle in April, 1910. He made his debut appearance on Monday, 18th April, 1910, in a 1-1 draw at home to Celtic in a benefit match. There were no goals for James during his spell with Thistle. He played his last game for the club on Wednesday, 3rd January, 1912, in a 5-3 defeat away to St Mirren in a Benefit match, having appeared as a Jag on 5 occasions. His club-list included Kilmacolm, Houston St Fillan's, Partick Thistle and Royal Albert. We don't know where or when James died. *
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 This young right back started out with Kilmacolm and signed with Houston St Fillan's for the start of 1909-10. He was described as a hot prospect and, before the season was out, was fixed up for a trial with Partick Thistle. A number of the end-of-season friendlies were confusingly reported or had unreported teamlines, but the Daily Record (19 April 1910) was lucid enough with the revelation that Fletcher, a right back from Renfrewshire, fared well as a guest in Willie Howden's benefit match, a very decent 1-1 Firhill draw versus Celtic. Formally joining the club in the autumn of 1910, James soon became a mainstay of the Partick Thistle reserves. Early on in his Thistle career, James had a bit of a nightmare at Pittodrie when Willie Howden got his ribs damaged in trying to prevent Aberdeen's opener in a Reserve League match on 2 January 1911. It was a case of James coming to Willie's benefit once again, this time bravely stepping up to take over between the sticks! Thistle played the "one back game" and James reportedly did fairly well, but the final scoreline was one to forget; Aberdeen 'A' 7 Partick Thistle 'A' 0. Ouch. James played with Thistle Reserves for 3 seasons and earned himself a hugely impressive gold medal when Partick Thistle became Reserve League Champions of Scotland for season 1911-12. Whilst a Jag, James was called up to play for the Scottish Reserve League on a number of occasions. As far as first team action went, a few low-key appearances in the springtime of 1911 must have been disappointing for James, although the reserves did regularly play in front of crowds of between 1,000 - 2,000. In the summertime of 1913, James moved on to Royal Albert of Larkhall. He played in the Lanarkshire cup final on 2 January 1914, but the Larkies went down by 3 goals to 1 to Airdrie at Broomfield. He was part of the Royal Albert side which ran to the semi finals of the Scottish Qualifying Cup in 1919-20, losing 2-0 to Cowdenbeath in a replay, but it was enough to enter the Scottish Cup proper. Early in 1920, a 7-0 win at home to Forres Mechanics in the 1st Round was followed up by a 2-1 exit in the 2nd Round away to Lochgelly United. |
| (WS/AFK) |
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